The Forgotten Soldier
by luckyem7
Summary: Soon after the Charmed Ones defeat the Ultimate Power, who they thought was their biggest challenge, a new and powerful foe from their ancestor's past threatens them and their children as he seeks revenge.
1. Prologue

****Author's Note: This story is set a couple of months after the Ultimate Battle. It focuses on most of the characters presented in the show. There is one main villain in this story, but there will be several other demons and challenges the characters have to deal with over the course of the story. I don't know how long this will end up being(I just started writing this), but I will try to update at least once a week. The prologue is a bit short since it's just introducing the main plot, but I will try to make the rest of the chapters longer. I hope you enjoy this, and please review.

Disclaimer: I'm only writing this once so I don't have to repeat it- I do not own Charmed or any of the characters created by the producers of this show. I do, however, own the characters I created and the unique plotline my story will be taking. Thanks!

_**Prologue**_

_Five Years Earlier…._

The energy from the vanquish of the Source by the Charmed Ones rippled across the magical world, both good and evil, and even affected some mentally open mortals. For the creatures of light, there was great rejoicing and celebration. Many had feared that the Source was the one evil that even the Charmed Ones could not defeat, but this proved otherwise. To them, this just proved that the reign of good would last forever.

For the Underworld, this was one of the most traumatic and depressing events that they had experienced. For most of them, their hope had been hinging upon the Source killing the Charmed Ones and opening up an opportunity for evil to take the upper hand. This had been their chance to make up for all of the deaths of fellow demons, who had been their friends and family, at the hands of those powerful three witches.

That hope of revenge by proxy had come crashing down the second the Source had been vanquished. They didn't even have to wait to hear the news; everyone felt the power surge at once. Immediately, demons began going into hiding or fleeing to protect themselves from the perceived threat of the Charmed Ones.

However, there was one demon that was not at all sad (or as sad as demons could get) over the vanquish of the Source. In fact, he was thrilled. This was because the Source's vanquish triggered his release from the cell he had been trapped in for over three centuries when the Source had put him here. His name was Theron.

Theron grinned eerily as the cage doors glowed brightly for a moment before they cracked loudly. The only reason this would be happening was if the Source was dead. That had been the clause built into the spell that had trapped him in here so long ago.

One thing about magic was that nothing could be foolproof. Every spell had to be slightly imperfect. The witch who had cast this one had made it so the Source's death would free him. The Source figured that this was an acceptable clause because if he was dead, then he wouldn't have to worry about the powerful last survivor of the Hunters.

His first step of freedom was exhilarating. For the first time in hundreds of years, he felt the soft feeling of dirt under his bare feet. To most, that would be an insignificant event, but for a demonic hunter who had been trapped in a cage for so long, this was one of the best feelings he had felt for a very long time.

The first thing he did was walk down the corridor that he still remembered led to the main section of the Underworld that was bound to be crawling with demons that could give him an update on what was going on in the world right now.

The last time Theron had been a free demon, his entire family had been slaughtered by that witch Melinda Warren and the rest of that coven of witches. He still didn't know how they had overcome the Hunters. They had been the most powerful group of demons of that time. They had been mercenaries for all kinds of groups of people, and they hadn't been exclusive of who hired them- good, neutral, and evil.

Melinda Warren had hated them and vowed revenge after the Hunters had killed her husband, Charles Warren, right after their daughter Prudence's birth. One of the hunters had been hired by an unknown person to take out Charles in order to weaken Melinda and the child. This had backfired and resulted in the death of the entire clan.

Theron ruminated on this turn of events that had occurred. The only reason he had survived was because he had been recruited by the Source at a young age due to his rare ability to control the element of water. This did not usually pop up in combination with the ability of telekinesis, which was passed along all of the hunters. This made him one of the more powerful demons and caused him to become a bodyguard to the Source.

Theron had suspected that the Source had given the order to kill Melinda Warren's husband, and he had tried to take out the Source. The Source didn't know how to kill him, so with the help of a powerful witch, he had locked him away. With the thought of his past, he turned back to the current problem of finding a demon.

It only took a few minutes for him to find the object of his search- a lowly camouflage demon. Immediately, he grabbed the demon by the throat and pinned him against the wall. "Where are the descendants of Melinda Warren?" He knew that by now, the witch was dead, but she was in the afterlife, which meant she could watch as he took out her remaining family.

The demon looked up with fear in his cowardly eyes and choked out, "The Charmed Ones. They're her descendants." Theron lightened his grip on the demon's throat for a moment. Even though he had been trapped for three centuries, he knew of the prophecy of the Charmed Ones, who were supposed to be the most powerful three witches who existed. Regardless, he would still go through with his plan to make that witch pay from the afterlife.

"Where are the witches?" he growled to the quivering demon.

The demon nervously responded, "San Francisco, at the Nexus. But no one has ever defeated the-!" He was cut off by the energy ball sent flying into his gut by the impatient hunter.

"No one tells me that I can't do something," he said spitefully to the pile of ashes at his feet. Even though the demon was gone, what he said was true- it would be difficult to take down these witches. Maybe he needed a little bit of help. Perhaps a seer to tell him the future and some muscle to distract the witches. But that would only be the start. He needed to learn about these witches first and discover their weaknesses. By the time he finally attacked them, they would be dust between his fingers. In a few years, Melinda Warren would regret that she had killed his family as each of descendants joined her one by one.


	2. A Demon a Day Keeps the Doctor Busy

__Author's Note: This is where the action of the story begins. I'm going to try to update at least once a week, depending on how busy I am. Before I update my next chapter, I want at least one review to show that at least one person is reading. Thanks, and please review!

* * *

_Halliwell_. To many, this was the name of the family in the large manor on Prescott street- a little quirky but an otherwise normal family who was known to have unexplained noises from their house on occasion.

To the few inside, it was both a gift and a curse. On the good side, it brought magical abilities and the family being brought closer together. However, it meant no peace of mind and the continual loss of loved ones. Over the years, they had lost at least a dozen people they cared about. No matter what the Halliwells thought, though, there was nothing they could do to change it.

Piper Halliwell thought on this as she cooked the family's dinner for that night. For over eight years, now, that had been the case. Now, though, it seemed like their luck may have finally turned for the better. Ever since the Ultimate Battle a year ago, not a single demon had attacked. Wyatt and Chris had been able to grow up without the threat of demons.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of simultaneous laughter and screaming.

"Wyatt, give it back!" she heard Chris yell from the living. Piper sighed quietly to herself. Lately, the pair of brothers had been fighting over everything.

Slowly, she walked into the living room and immediately saw the chaos that had erupted in her five minute absence. Piper could barely see her sons amongst the swirls of orbs surrounding the objects throughout the room. Both were "throwing" toys at each other with orbs.

Immediately, Piper threw her hands in the air and froze the toys- she may not be able to freeze her sons but objects were no problem.

Both boys looked up guiltily as they noticed their mother's presence in the room. Wyatt took the opportunity to spurt out, "Chris started it!"

"Nuh-uh. Wy took my train and wouldn't give it back!" The two-year old had mastered the art of the puppy dog stare as he made his claim. But this time, she wasn't falling for that again. Not after the cookie debacle last week.

Piper said sternly, "I don't care who started it, I'm ending it. Both of you go upstairs to your rooms for 1 hour with no toys. After that, you can play if there's no more fighting." Wyatt started to whine but shut up as his mother refused to give in. She was determined to stop the boys from fighting.

In a moment of sweetness, Wyatt grabbed Chris's hand and orbed the two of them upstairs. Chris had never been the most consistent orber (last month there had been a scare when Chris had orbed to Victor's house; it had been 20 minutes before the mess had been settled), and the four-year-old was looking out for his brother.

Piper sighed slightly as her sons disappeared in blue orbs. She was slightly less annoyed than she had been five minutes ago when Wyatt and Chris had been fighting. She loved her sons dearly and seeing that made her love her life so much.

Ever since the Ultimate Battle, life had been amazing. Not a single demon had attacked since. Maybe it was because the Charmed Ones defeating Billie and Christy had shown that any demon who went against them would be vanquished.

The only bad thing was that she hadn't seen her sisters in a while. They still got together to hang out and bond but not nearly as much when there had been demons to fight. Her sisters seemed to be moving on happily with their lives. Phoebe and Coop had gotten engaged several weeks ago. That emotion had been building up since the Ultimate Battle, so Piper had not been surprised when Phoebe had excitedly told her that Coop had finally popped the question.

Paige, on the other hand, had been enjoying married life with Henry. The two of them had moved into their own house six months ago. Paige had thrown herself into her whitelighter duties, taking on multiple charges at once.

The last time she had gotten together with her sisters was about two weeks ago, when they had went to lunch together and enjoyed the end of the summer weather. They had talked, but she kind of missed when they had lived together and talked every day, even though life right now was nice. She and Leo were getting along great and they were even thinking about having another kid. Piper still dreamed about that daughter she had had in the future.

Maybe that future didn't exist anymore. After all, Prue wasn't alive, she had two sons, and she and Leo wasn't a whitelighter anymore.

The witch shook off thoughts off the escaped future and turned towards her latest chore- dinner. Not that it was a chore for her; cooking had always been her passion, her escape hatch from life when it got too troubling. Ever since Grams had introduced the world of stoves and spices, she had been hooked. In fact, she had plans to open her own restaurant sometime in the future, when Wyatt and Chris when both in school. Wyatt was starting in the fall but Chris still had two more years before he faced it.

The thought of the boys made her think of one of the few fights between her and Leo- whether their children should go to Magic School or regular school. Wyatt had been in the daycare at Magic School, but now he was transitioning into pre-K. Piper believed that he was now old enough to be in a school with mortals and learn the ways of the normal world. She didn't want her son to grow up ignorant of the normal world they lived in.

Leo, on the other hand, thought that Magic School was the only option, since it would let him grow up surrounded by people who knew his secret. They had been at a standstill for the entire summer on this particular issue, and they still hadn't come to a solution. This was an issue, considering Wyatt started school in a few weeks.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her ringing cell phone in her pocket. Piper's eyebrows rose as she considered who could be calling her. The mystery was answered as soon as she looked at screen. _Paige Matthews_ was highlighted across the screen. With a smile, Piper picked up and phone and hit _Talk_.

Paige's voice drifted out of the phone, and immediately Piper knew this was a serious situation from Paige's serious tone, "Piper, I need your help."

Piper pursed her lips and said, "What's wrong? Why didn't you just orb here to tell me?"

Paige sounded freaked out, "Piper, I'm in a warehouse in Chinatown. My charge was chased by a warlock down here, and I followed him in, and now I can't orb out. It's like there's an anti-orbing shield on this place, and I can't find my way out."

"Where are you? What's the address?" Piper nearly screamed. She knew this was a big deal. Paige wouldn't involve her unless she was really in trouble. Paige knew how much Piper wanted a normal life, so she usually kept her away from her magic life.

"6307 Winchester," her sister said breathily. There was a loud crash on the other side of the phone, and Paige immediately said, "I think something's coming. I've got to go." With that, the line went dead.

* * *

Ten minutes earlier….

Paige sprinted into the warehouse, on the heels of her charge, Owen, and the warlock chasing him. Only a few minutes ago, she and Owen had been sitting in a restaurant discussing his powers and what he could do with them. Owen was a teenage witch who had the power of invisibility. This was sought after by a powerful warlock, who had appeared and chased Owen down an alley, with Paige following close behind.

Both had come into the warehouse just a moment earlier, but they both seemed to have disappeared. Her dark eyes darted from side to side, searching for them. Suddenly, the room became very cold, and Paige couldn't help but shiver. Her senses tingled and sent a bad feeling throughout her body. Something evil was here, and it wasn't that warlock. It was something was much worse. The only question was what.

Her question was answered a moment later when a figure stepped out of the shadows. He looked like a normal human man. His skin was tanned; his face was lightly covered with facial hair, like most men. The guy was tall, over six feet tall. Despite his normal appearance, Paige sensed an evil aura coming off him in waves.

Paige cautiously stepped backwards, but the man stepped forward with a sinister grin. Paige was the first one to break the silence, "Who are you?"

The man, or demon, replied, "I'm not telling you that yet. All you get to know is that I'm here, and your family will pay."

"For what?" Paige asked despite the fear running through her body.

"You'll know soon enough. For now, you're just going to be a message to the rest of your family." At this, Paige knew she had to leave. She started to orb out when suddenly the orbs around her fizzled out. The man started to laugh eerily, "Don't you think I thought about that…Paige?"

That was the last thing Paige heard before the pipe in the man's hand was swung into her head. She dropped to the ground like a rock, unconsciousness claiming her before she hit the floor. The pipe had left behind a large gaping wound across her forehead that already had blood trickling from it.

Theron laughed slightly as the witch fell so easily. This was going to be a lot simpler than he thought. These witches were supposed to be difficult to defeat. If he wanted to, he could kill the witch right now but that would defeat the purpose of this part of the plan. The only thing he was doing right now was scaring the Charmed Ones. They would have to look over their shoulders until he finally killed them. That would be a while first. First, he would play with them.

The hunter rifled through the pockets of the jacket the witchlighter was wearing before pulling out his goal- her cell phone. He scrolled through her contacts before stopping at _Piper Halliwell_. He called the number and waited for it to pick up. As soon as she picked up, he began talking in Paige's voice….

* * *

Piper's car screeched to a halt in front of the warehouse that Paige had said that she was in. She gulped for a moment- she was a bit nervous. It had been a year since she had faced any type of evil, and she had to admit that she was a bit out of practice with her powers. The most she had done with them lately was freeze falling objects or stop toy fights. Piper didn't even know if she knew how to blow up a demon right now.

Regardless, her baby sister was in trouble, and she had to help her with no back-up. She had not had time to call Phoebe or Leo. Also, she didn't want to put them in danger and pull them away from their lives. Piper knew that Phoebe in particular didn't want to be involved in the magic life.

Cautiously, Piper walked into the warehouse. The first thing that her eyes fell upon was a motionless body in the corner of the room. A gasp escaped her throat as she recognized Paige on the floor. To her horror, there was a giant cut on her baby sister's head. Paige didn't look like she was moving.

She was about to run to her sister's side when a huge figure stepped in front of her and blocked her path. In the man's hand was a long pipe covered in blood. So this was the demon behind her sister's attack. Her hands were thrust in front of her body, and an explosion was sent towards the demon. However, the only visible effect was a slightly stumbling of the demon.

Piper stepped back and asked cautiously said, "That was just a warning shot."

The demon chuckled derisively before saying, "Nope, I have no doubt that was your best shot, Piper. I'm just immune."

"How do you know my name?" Piper asked the mysterious evil man.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out when I decide it's the right time. But you don't have to worry- I'm not going to kill you…yet. First, you'll pay," the demon said with malice in his voice.

Piper echoed the same words her sister had asked before, "For what?"

This time, the demon actually answered the question, "Why don't you just ask Melinda? She'll know what she did and why you and your family are going to pay for it. Now, take your sister away. Just a warning…I will be back." With that, the demon shimmered away.

Piper shivered in fear- what had that thing meant when it said Melinda was behind it? That was a question for later, though. Right now, she had to make sure Paige was alright. To her relief, when she felt for Paige's pulse, it was strong and steady. Her sister would be fine.

At least for now…according to that demon. Whoever he was, Piper was sure that he was a lot worse than anything they had ever come across before.


End file.
